Star Wars Is Forever

Category Archives: Video

In this latest episode of the Blockade Runner Podcast, John and Dan bid farewell to Star Wars Rebels as the show’s four season run comes to a close. We look specifically at Rebels’s final three weeks (in a detailed, SPOILER FILLED discussion) and weigh in on some of the more controversial choices made by Dave Filoni and the rest of the creatives at Lucasfilm.

Join Kevin and John as we breakdown the trailer for The Last Jedi frame by frame. We discuss our favorite images, plot implications, and our hopes for Episode VIII. This discussion took place just minutes after The Last Jedi trailer went live, so our impressions are immediate and, as Snoke would say, “RAW!”

Ryan and John discuss the Battlefront 2 beta in the latest episode of The Blockade Runner. We chat about all of the content in this week’s beta release, including the playable maps, modes, classes, and characters. We also lament how terrible we are at the game but share our hopes for improving through the experience of playing the single player mode.

After we wrap up the Battlefront 2 discussion, we move on to covering the latest Star Wars books releases as well as touch on our feelings toward J.J. Abrams directing Episode IX and speculate about the now confirmed Last Jedi trailer release on Monday night.

The Super Star Wars games were super popular upon their release and they played a significant role in bringing a new generation of kids into Star Wars at the time, so I’m thrilled to be playing them for our Power of the 90s series. The games are known for their sometimes brutal difficulty, and that’s certainly part of what I remember about them, but after revisiting Super Star Wars with my copy of Volume 42 of Nintendo Power by my side and exploiting a secret free life-farming area, I had a surprisingly smooth experience playing through the game. And it’s absolutely worth tracking down Super Star Wars (even if you don’t have nostalgic memories of playing as a kid) for it’s bright, colorful visual interpretation of the Star Wars universe, it’s 16-bit renditions of classic Star Wars themes, and its giant green womp rats! Check out the videos below to watch my recent playthrough of the game with Star Wars in the 90s-focused commentary.

The Blockade Runner Plays Super Star Wars – Part One:

The Blockade Runner Plays Super Star Wars – Part Two:

The Blockade Runner Plays Super Star Wars – Part Three:

The Story of A New Hope As Told By Super Star Wars SNES (1992):

It occurred to me while recording my playthrough of Super Star Wars that the story screens are so impressive that they would be fun to break out and cut together as their own video. It actually reminds me of reading a children’s picture book version of A New Hope, only with excellent 16-bit visuals and sound!

Nintendo Power:

Super Star Wars TV Commercial:

In case you were wondering if you want this game or not (you do), check out this sweet television ad from the time of the game’s release!

We’ll be back later this month with our Power of the 90s episode cover all things Star Wars in 1993, and we’ll definitely be posting our playthrough for Super The Empire Strikes Back too! Whether or not we can beat the game remains to be seen…

Check out the first 30 minutes or so of Star Wars on the NES in our second (and last) Blockade Runner Plays video for our Power of the 90s series covering 1990/1991. I play from the start of the game up through the first part of the Death Star, so the video provides a pretty solid look at the first third or so of the game.

I’m also including Nintendo Power’s coverage from its September 1991 issue (Volume 28, the rest of which you can read here on archive.org). It’s a fun look at what games coverage, Star Wars or otherwise, was like in 1991 and it’s also super helpful if you want to play some NES Star Wars yourself!

I just recently learned that there is a totally sweet tv commercial for the game too. Check out a dastardly Darth Vader taking on a super-heroic mom in this fantastic ad for the game:

While you’re at it, why not check out comedian Mario Cantone (for some reason) shilling for the game on some sort of video game-related tv show:

Finally, check out the Moby Games page for NES Star Wars for more info on the games development and release as well as screenshots from this and other versions of the game if you’re interested in the differences between them that I briefly mentioned in the video.

Ryan and John discuss the toy and book announcements coming out of San Diego Comic Con 2017. We weren’t planning on recording this show ahead of time, but the news from Hasbro and Lucasfilm publishing was too exciting not to talk about! Highlights and links below: